On this day in the Sunshine State …

1840 Fighting continued in the Everglades as units of the American Army under Major Fauntleroy continued their pursuit of Seminole warriors.

1897 The town of LaCrosse was incorporated today.

1897 Steamship service from Miami to Nassau and Cuba was inaugurated today by Henry M. Flagler.

1928 Doyle Edward Conner, the seventh Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Florida, was born in Starke. Conner was elected to the House of Representatives in 1950, while he was a sophomore at the University of Florida.  He was only 21 years old at the time.  Conner was subsequently re-elected for four more terms, and in 1957, served as the Speaker of the House at age 28.  He was elected Commissioner of Agriculture in 1960.

1957 The United States successfully launched the Atlas ICBM today on a 500-mile flight from Cape Canaveral.

1981 Leah Aleice Simms was appointed County Judge of Dade County by Governor Bob Graham today.  She was the first African-American woman to hold a judgeship in Florida.  Judge Simms was educated at Howard University and the Willamette University School of Law.